‘Friends and Associates Believe Kennedy Is Seriously Considering Retirement’

May 01, 2017

It's May Day, so be sure to gloat to your socialist friends!

'Friends and Associates Believe Kennedy Is Seriously Considering Retirement'

CNN hints at some giant news that could come next month:

Justice Neil Gorsuch has been on the bench for less than a month and conservatives are already preparing for the next Supreme Court confirmation fight. The only hitch: there's no vacancy.

But that hasn't stopped some Republicans, including President Donald Trump, from talking openly about a next seat and even possibly trying to woo 80-year-old Justice Anthony Kennedy into retirement.

Friends and associates believe Kennedy is seriously considering retirement. In general, the burdens of age and demands at the court weigh in one direction. His deep interest -- and leading role -- in America's constitutional democracy weigh in the other.

The question appears not to be whether Kennedy will retire soon, but when -- at the end of this June, or next? …

Two weeks ago, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said he expected another resignation this summer.

"I have no way of knowing who it is, it's just a very general rumor for the last six months around Washington, DC and I assume it's somebody in their late seventies or early eighties," Grassley told reporters.

Ready for the insane scenario? Imagine Kennedy retires, and then during the process of replacing him, 84-year-old Ruth Bader Ginsburg runs into some sort of serious health issue. With the filibuster nuked, the GOP Senate majority can confirm two more justices in the mold of Gorsuch.

That would be classic Donald Trump luck: One year or so into his term, he would have appointed one-third of the Supreme Court and already become one of the most consequential (and good for conservatives!) presidents of the modern era.

What You Missed at the NRA Convention in Atlanta… Unless You Were There

Scattered notes from the NRA Annual Meeting in Atlanta…

· You saw Friday's report that Florida governor Rick Scott is either running for Senate in 2018 against Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson… or he's a giant tease, right? A term-limited Florida governor doesn't travel to Atlanta to talk about the importance of confirming good conservative Supreme Court judges who will protect the Second Amendment, and criticize his current senator up for reelection next year, unless he's thinking of running...

· The audience ate up Trump's speech with a spoon. But the folks who focus on gun policies noticed he didn't bother to mention concealed-carry reciprocity or any other legislative priorities for Second Amendment advocates. They weren't irked, they just recognized that their issues were, at least for now, not a particularly high priority for the White House. If nothing has moved by the next time the NRA gathers in Dallas, Texas, next spring, the grumbling will be louder.

The next big Supreme Court case on guns could be Peruta v. California, a challenge to the Golden state's law that requires a gun owner to demonstrate "good cause" to be issued a concealed-carry permit. As Damon Root reports, "In the words of one San Diego official, 'one's personal safety is not considered good cause,'" meaning that "the local sheriff has vast discretion to pick and choose who gets a permit and who doesn't." If the Court struck down California's law, it could have far-reaching effect on states' and localities' ability to deny concealed-carry permits.

Back when Justice Gorsuch was on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2012, he wrote that "the Supreme Court has held the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to own firearms and may not be infringed lightly."

But there's wariness among Second Amendment advocates that the case would be a slam-dunk. One particular concern is that gun-control advocates will attempt a version of the intimidation effort against John Roberts that the defenders of Obamacare attempted in 2012, arguing that the perception of the Court's objectivity and place in history could be at stake.

Shoulda Googled It, Fyre Festival Customers

It's usually mean to laugh at the misfortunes of others. But that doesn't mean that temptation is easy to resist.

If you turned up at the Fyre Festival wooed by its ads — and many, many fans did — you'd think you were in for a weekend of top-notch acts playing for your entertainment, as models in bikinis paraded around and private jets and yachts ferried you to and from the beautiful Caribbean paradise. Everything any good Millennial needs for a strong Instagram post.

The reality, however, has been anything but.

Those who shelled out up to $12,780 for the luxury weekend in the Exumas, in the Bahamas, found themselves Thursday treated to mass disorganization, half-built tents, and catered food that was little more than limp cheese sandwiches.

Oh, and no beer.

So basically a bunch of Millennials who have more money than they know what to do with paid a small fortune to reenact Lord of the Flies.

Over in New York magazine, Chloe Gordon, who was briefly hired as a talent producer for the festival, offers a grimly hilarious inside look about how nothing was ever organized, and how disaster was foreseeable every step of the way. There's a report that the organizers warned the A-list guests to hold off on coming, but didn't tell the folks who had shelled out the big money.

If you're willing to pay a couple thousand dollars to attend a concert event on a Caribbean island and don't bother to look into it or who's organizing before paying… well, you kind of deserve what you get. For most of us, $1,000 is a lot of money, a sum you don't spend without doing a little due diligence. As far as we know, no one died or caught dysentery. Everyone will go home with a little humility and a little wiser.

"Epic Lloyd," one of the twisted minds behind the hilarious "Epic Rap Battles of History" video series, has a song called "Shoulda Googled It." (Ordinarily I would link, but it's got some strong language and gross juvenile humor, so with those warnings in mind, if you're interested or unfamiliar, you can… you know… google it.) Needless to say, it's the perfect anthem for those moments when you find yourself enduring the consequences of a stupid decision that could have been avoided with just a minimum of investigation.

Speaking of music, our new guy Kyle Smith arrives to make a key, easily forgotten point that you never need to apologize for the music you love, no matter how much the critics sneer.

It's sad, really, to feel the urge to run your pleasures through someone else's disapproval matrix, to lack the courage of your own taste. Billy Joel fans know the way to approach music is the way they — we — greet the guitar lick that opens "Big Shot" or the chorus of "Pressure" — with heedless abandon. If it sounds great to you, it is great.

ADDENDA: This morning, SpaceX is launching an NRO spy satellite! Yes, all of us at National Review Online are proud — I wasn't even aware that we had a spy-satellite program — but with today's launch, I'm sure we'll be able to bring you even more amazing, in-depth coverage from both home and abroad to…

Wait, what's that? Oh, I'm sorry, apparently SpaceX is launching a satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office, a.k.a., "That Other NRO."

 
 
 
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